Seeking Thunder
by Shadow Ranger
Summary: After Lord Zedd arrives and takes control of the Zords, Zordon embarks on a plan to upgrade to the Power of Thunder. But first he has to find the Thunderzords and unlock their powers. Can his old student Gosei offer assistance?


Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers, they belong to whoever owns the copyright at the time of reading.

**Seeking Thunder**

"Ai-yi-yi, Zordon. Communication has been established."

"Good work Alpha, open the transmission channel." The Viewing Globe flickered as the long-distance communication systems stabilised the signal. But when it cleared Zordon was pleased to see a familiar, friendly face. "Greetings Gosei, it has been a long time."

"Master Zordon," came a formal response. "It's a pleasure to hear from you."

"I have read your reports with interest and commend your dedication to your task," Zordon continued.

Shortly after the defeat of Rita Repulsa, Zordon and Gosei had realised that the war had taken its toll of Ranger teams. Some had been destroyed, others had been lost or had hidden their powers to protect them from evil. Zordon had sent Gosei out into the cosmos to seek out the lost powers, collecting those that were unprotected while leaving those that had been secured alone. It had been Zordon's hope that should the forces of darkness return there would be the means to fight them.

"Thank you, Master Zordon. You should know that I have located the fate of one of the Great Stars. It has been installed in a temple as an energy source the locals refer to as the White Light. They have taken steps to secure it from evil and have even installed a guardian. I have spoken with the guardian and believe it would be best to leave the power undisturbed for now."

"As with the Temple of Ninja Power, I agree with your decision to leave it alone," Zordon told him. "Although I ask that you record its location. I am contacting you about another matter: Lord Zedd has arrived and has replaced Rita Repulsa. The war has entered a new stage my friend and I need your assistance."

"Do you wish me to return to Earth and aid your Rangers?" Gosei enquired. He was not without resources.

"No," was the firm response. "I am aware that Zedd is one of many threats the Rangers will face in the years to come. It is essential that they rise to this new challenge as they have done repeatedly in the past."

"Then why did you contact me?" he asked, confused.

"While I am certain they will defeat Lord Zedd, they can only do so if they are able to call upon their Zords. Lord Zedd has used a monster to gain control of the Dinozords and I fear that even if the Rangers can release them from that control, the Zords will remain a liability now they have been in Zedd's possession. I believe the time has come to upgrade their Zords to combat the threat Zedd poses."

There was silence as Zordon turned to watch the Rangers fighting Zedd's monster. They were on the defensive but showed no signs of surrendering. It made him confident he had chosen wisely.

"I understand that when you located the White Light, you also located the powers of the other Squadron Rangers."

The Squadron Rangers were just one of many teams that had fallen during the war with Rita Repulsa. They drew their power through the Morphin Grid using a set of powerful crystals called the Stars of Heaven, although Gosei suspected they too might have been found and used as religious icons. Their team had also been known as the Thunder Squadron due to their use of the Thunderzords.

"Mostly rumours of their fate," Gosei corrected. "I did find the resting place of the Thunderzords when I located the White Tiger Zord. I have not located any of the other powers." There was a long pause as Gosei made the mental connections and realised what his master had in mind. "You wanted to use the power of the Thunder Squadron to augment your Rangers, didn't you?"

"I had hoped that the power of the Squadron Rangers would serve as additional power if needed," Zordon agreed. "However, at this time I would seek to use the Thunderzords as templates and reformat their existing Zords."

Gosei considered the plan and realised that what his mentor suggested would work. The Thunderzords would provide a physical template while the energy from the Rangers' existing Zords would allow for reformatting within the Morphin Grid. It would take a great deal of work to recalibrate the Zords and would rely upon the Command Center to control the mixture of energies.

"You realise that should the Thunderzords fail they could damage the Command Center and your link to Earth?"

"I do," Zordon agreed.

Much of the Command Center's systems would need to be tied into regulating the dangerous high energy fields needed to maintain such a transformation. Too much strain and there was a chance the backlash could destroy the Rangers, their powers and the Command Center. But it was a risk they had to take.

"I fear there is very little time to complete this task," Zordon rumbled.

Indeed, if they were lucky, they would be able to connect the Red Dragon Thunderzord to the Command Center's systems. But linking the other Zords would take too long to complete. The best they could hope for was a limited connection and would have to accept that the resulting upgrades would lack many of the features of the original Thunderzords. At least they would benefit from the increased durability.

As Gosei worked on his end and Alpha Five made the changes to the Command Center's power core, the Power Rangers managed to release their Zords from Zedd's control, only to see the villain cast them into the molten Earth. If anything, that made the task easier as now they were working with just the energies within the Morphin Grid.

"The Red Dragon Thunderzord's energy matrix is fully engaged," Gosei reported as the machine started to respond to the Red Ranger's call.

It was saddening to see the Thunderzords teleported away, knowing that in order to integrate them with his Rangers' powers, Zordon would need to break the might machines down and then allow the Power to rebuild them again. Alas that was the price to keep Lord Zedd from conquering the Earth.

And now it was time for Gosei to resume his mission, seeking out the lost powers of the past and ensuring they were beyond the reach of those that would abuse them. He had built a sizeable collection of the many thousands of years since Zordon's victory. But there was more to find and if Zordon was correct that Lord Zedd was the first in a growing number of threats, perhaps they would be needed all the sooner.

**End**


End file.
